Bill Beckner stories, Page 5

A new spring season has arrived, and a number of local baseball and softball teams made the TribLive HSSN preseason rankings. For baseball, Hempfield starts the spring at No. 3 in Class 6A, Belle Vernon is No. 3 in Class 4A and Greensburg Central Catholic is No. 4 in A....

As the late Tom Petty sang, waiting is the hardest part. Greensburg Central Catholic earned a spot in the PIAA Class 2A boys basketball semifinals but has to sit a week between games. The Centurions (26-3) will play Sewickley Academy (23-5) at noon Saturday at Peters Township in the western...

With blood dripping from his elbow, Samir Crosby had to come out of the game and have a teammate shoot the second of his two free throws late in his team’s most important basketball game of the season. “It’s always physical when we play Jeannette. Honestly, I didn’t think I...

Cam Rowell knew he wanted to make a fast impact in the Presidents Athletic Conference. An array of steals, fast-break layups and punctuation slam dunks later, the Washington & Jefferson freshman is a rookie of the year. Rowell, a Franklin Regional graduate, capped his debut basketball season by winning the...

A Norwin graduate claimed a major award in Presidents Athletic Conference basketball. Grove City senior guard Mara Polczynski was named the conference defensive player of the year. Polczynski, known for her ability to force turnovers in the backcourt, had 80 steals and led the Wolverines with 6.5 per game. She...

A section championship. A runner-up finish in the WPIAL. Another trip to the state playoffs. The Norwin girls basketball team’s season finally came to an end with a 49-38 loss at Altoona in the PIAA 6A first round. The Knights finished 15-8 a year after winning their third WPIAL title...

The Seton Hill women’s basketball team took a 15-point lead into halftime and went on to hold back Kutztown, 89-75, in the first round of the NCAA Division II Tournament at Edinboro. The Griffins (24-6), who set a single-season program record for wins since the team joined the NCAA in...

Good weather doesn’t have much of a track record at this time of year, so it was somewhat surprising that the softball season started on time Friday, a sun-splashed opening day and 70-plus-degree temperatures greeting WPIAL teams. What wasn’t surprising was Hempfield starting a new season with a victory. “It...

Boys Class 2A Quarterfinals Jeannette (25-2) vs. Greensburg Central Catholic (25-3) Noon Saturday at Norwin District-seed: Jeannette 7-1; Greensburg Central Catholic 7-5 Winner plays: Winner of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (21-7)/Sewickley Academy (22-5) in semifinals March 22 (time, site TBD) Coaches: Adrian Batts, Jeannette (16th year); Christian Hyland,...

With six Division I college commits, Hempfield is primed for another run at WPIAL and PIAA championships. Of course, last year did not include any titles, but the Spartans are refocused — and humbled — after they were dealt a surprising loss by Norwin in the WPIAL 6A semifinals. High...

This was not the same Our Lady of the Sacred Heart team that Greensburg Central Catholic beat to advance to the WPIAL finals 18 days earlier. No, this was an entirely different opponent from the tip to the final horn, and this version will go down as the team that...

Boys Class 2A Jeannette (24-2) vs. Northern Cambria (15-12) 7 p.m. Wednesday at Greater Johnstown High School District seeds: Jeannette 7-1; Northern Cambria (15-12) 6-2 Winner plays: Winner of 7-5 Greensburg Central Catholic (24-3)/7-4 Neshannock (22-4) Saturday in quarterfinals (time, site TBD) Players to watch: Markus McGowan, Jeannette; Caleb Dolney,...

Jeannette boys basketball coach Adrian Batts said he was concerned Saturday as his team prepared to open the PIAA playoffs. It wasn’t that he thought Jeannette was going to lose. It was just the uniqueness of following a WPIAL title that made him unsure of what to expect. “It was...

Seton Hill will play in the NCAA Division II women’s basketball tournament for the first time in 15 years. Accepting an at-large bid Monday, the third-seeded Griffins (23-6) will begin play at noon on Friday against No. 6 Kutztown (22-11) at Edinboro’s McComb Fieldhouse in Erie. Seton Hill beat Kutztown...

A pair of local products claimed major awards in Presidents’ Athletic Conference basketball. Grove City senior guard Mara Polczynski (Norwin) was named the conference defensive player of the year, while Washington & Jefferson freshman guard Cam Rowell (Franklin Regional) claimed newcomer of the year honors. Polczynski, known for her ability...

Boys Class 5A Second round Latrobe (21-6) vs. Greater Johnstown (25-1) 7 p.m. Tuesday at Pitt-Johnstown District-seed: Latrobe 7-6; Greater Johnstown 6-1 Winner plays: Winner of Chartiers Valley (24-3)/Montour (25-2) on Friday in quarterfinals (time, site TBD) Players to watch: John Wetzel, Latrobe; Dante Tisinger, Greater Johnstown Layup lines: Latrobe...

The win meant everything to Brad Wetzel. Everything. The four-hour bus trip home across the state Friday night from Exeter Township was a joy ride. The 23rd-year coach enjoyed every second of Latrobe’s victory, including celebrating it with his son, John, the senior point guard. Assistant coach Eric Butler, Wetzel’s...

Jeannette point guard Kymon’e Brown missed a morning walkthrough Saturday with flu-like symptoms. His stomach hurt, and he was sluggish. While Brown was told to drink a lot of fluids, the junior settled for a steady dose of free throws to help the Jayhawks stay ahead and post a win...

Ask them about the slow start. They’ll tell you how they finished. Fresh off back-to-back championships, Greensburg Central Catholic avoided the proverbial WPIAL hangover by knocking off eight days worth of rust, relying on its star power and finally accelerating past Cambria Heights, 61-31, in a PIAA Class 3A first-round...

Boys Class 2A First round Mercyhurst Prep (19-7) at Jeannette (23-2) 1 p.m. Saturday District seeds: Jeannette 7-1; Mercyhurst Prep 10-3 Winner plays: Winner of 9-3 Clarion Limestone (16-10)/6-2 Northern Cambria (14-12) on Wednesday in second round Players to watch: Tanner Ashton, Mercyhurst Prep; Kymon’e Brown, Jeannette Layup lines: Mercyhurst...

Greensburg Central Catholic might always wonder what if, but, for now, the boys basketball team is dialed in to what still could be. The Centurions (23-3) were the No. 1 seed in the WPIAL Class 2A playoffs but were upset by No. 8 Union, 44-42, in the quarterfinals. GCC already...

Greensburg Central Catholic junior point guard Erica Gribble has the uncanny ability to treat any place she plays basketball as “just another court.” Just like she can make any date on the schedule “just another game.” Whether it’s the compressed confines of her team’s home floor, an obscure road game...

Set to travel more than 400 miles round-trip Friday for its PIAA Class 5A boys basketball playoff opener, Latrobe has another number on its mind. The number 300 is more significant to the Wildcats, the sixth-place team from the WPIAL who will play their first state playoff game since 2017....

Though Norwin did not repeat as WPIAL champions, one could argue the Knights still have momentum going into the PIAA postseason. They did, after all, rally from 13 down to take a three-point lead late in the fourth quarter against Upper St. Clair on Saturday in the Class 6A girls...

Jeannette had just won its second WPIAL championship and first since 2008, but the players weren’t tired. Far from it, in fact. “I want to start states tomorrow,” sophomore guard Markus McGowan said. The Jayhawks wanted the crew at Petersen Events Center to leave the lights on. “Let’s play tonight....